Don't Worry Bee Happy

For the past few years I've been seeing bits of sawdust in the air and on the deck in our backyard. I've also seen large bees around, but I never connected the two together until this weekend.

Sitting out on the deck after dinner I noticed some sawdust float down and followed it up to one of the cross beams (2x10 PT) atop the deck. Standing on a chair I found a 3/8" hole in the cross beam, with bits of sawdust slowing being pushed out.

I couldn't see what was pushing out the sawdust, and no amount of banging on the wood would make the creature show it's face, so I waited for a few minutes before getting tired and climbing down. I looked around the deck and found 5 other holes, most older and more weathered than this one, but didn't see the occupants of any of them.

Guessing it could be ants or hornets, maybe termites I was hesitant about sticking anything in the hole and getting some nasty bites back in return. I sat back and waited. Eventually I saw one of the large bees I'd seen in the past buzzing around that general area. Sure enough the bee eventually popped into the hole.

Now my decision was whether to get rid of the bees or to let them 'be'. I tend to lean towards letting things alone that don't harm me or cause damage, so I left this alone and looked up "bees and wood" the next time I was online.

I found 'carpenter bees' on wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bees. The description definetly fit my bees, and since they "will not sting unless directly provoked" and "Since the tunnels are near the surface, structural damage is generally minor or nonexistent", I decided we could let them bee.

I've been watching the bees the past few nights, and three things I've noticed :

1. The seem to have trouble finding their hole
2. If they are near the hole and I move to get a better view they immediately fly away from the hole
3. If they are in the hole, no amount of banging on the wood will get them to come out